Kwasi returns!

There's something about studying these fluffy rodents in one of the most beautiful landscapes in the country that draws you back for more. My name is Kwasi Wrensford, a rising senior from the University of Connecticut by way of Albany, Georgia, and this will be my second summer as a Marmoteer! Along with the regular Marmot Team duties of trapping and observation, I will also be working on a project that looks to quantify and model escape behavior in marmots. So along with catching and watching marmots, I'll be chasing them as well (for science of course). It's an honor to work with Dr. Blumstein and the rest of the Marmoteers for another season, and I can't wait to see what the next few months have in store! 

Welcome Andy!

Hi, I'm Andy. I'm from Indianapolis, IN and I'm a sophomore at Indiana University. I just started working here at the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory in Gothic, CO a week and a half ago. Ana and Gabi have been teaching me everything there is to know about observing and trapping marmots. The mountains are amazing and the field work is always exciting. I'm getting a real taste of what it is like to be a wildlife biologist. Here's Colorado's second newest marmoteer signing off. Peace.

Welcome Rachel

Hey there, my name is Rachael and I from good ol' Maryland, home of Old Bay. I am absolutely thrilled to have the chance to study marmots here at RMBL. Not only do I get to work with such an adorable study species, but I have the opportunity to learn so much from Dr. Blumstein and the other researchers in the lab. This will definitely be a summer to remember!! 

Marmots Galore

Ana writes:

"After a couple weeks of anxiously waiting, we saw our first set of yearlings down valley! They are so small that they look just like they did when they first emerged last year. The snow is practically all melted down valley and we’re really excited to start trapping and get an ID on the individuals who somehow managed to escape our great marmot trapping effort at the end of last summer. We are also excited that we have our first set of undergrads coming in this week!  We have some returners and some people that are brand new to field work.  Soon they’ll meet Gothic’s favorite residents, Dandelion and Stitches, which have been hanging out by Maroon and we have one more mystery marmot in town. This marmot found entertainment in hiding behind the snow so we couldn’t see her mark."

Geoffroy introduction!

Hello I'm Geoffroy Saint-Aimé, a French student and temporary member of the marmots team!

I am at RMBL during this spring to develop one of the requisites of my Master program.

It's a great opportunity to work at RMBL, and observing the marmots emerging from hibernation and interacting. I am being advised by the Professor Daniel Blumstein to look into the socials effects of emergence on marmots, relations between emergence and dominance among socials animals.

Coming from France, it was a great adventure to live in the US, and going in a snow-mountain was a kid's dream. Acclimatization to the new conditions of altitude and temperature was really rough, but I'm enjoying the snow. I really appreciate the life here and the landscape, it's a new horizon for me. I will not be here for long, but I had already a great experience by meeting foxes, deers, and of course marmots. This experience is a great personal achievement and is improving my scientific skills. I am with Gabi and Ana, two exceptional members of the marmots team, and thanks to them I was able to learn several interesting things about marmots and some good stories about RMBL.

  

Kid’s Nature Camp meets our local marmots!

Lilah Hubbard writes:

A very important part of conducting research is teaching the public about what we do and what results we find. One of the most important and fun groups that we teach are the children at the Kid’s Nature Camp located here at RMBL. This summer, Tiffany and I have been lucky enough to spend some time with the camp and show them what we do!

Photo by Julie Byle

Last week, we trapped 4 of this year’s pups and showed them how we identify, handle, weigh, and measure the animals. We also used RMBL’s taxidermy specimens to let the kids see a marmot up close and feel its fur!

Photo by Julie Byle

We each had a lot of fun working with the campers and answering all of their great questions about marmots. One of my personal favorites was a question that came up after I showed the kids how we measure a marmot’s hind foot: “So when will the marmots get their shoes?”

Photo by Julie Byle

And here is a shot of Gothic Mountain from a rainy morning last week!

Encounter with the albino marmot!

Hello everybody, I have exciting news! I was off last week and had the most fantastic marmot-related experience yet! My partner was visiting from Scotland and we were driving up valley to go hiking. We stopped along the way to have lunch and at some point he beckoned me to walk over quietly to where he was standing, whilst excitedly pointing down the hill. I thought he had seen a mule deer, a chipmunk or some other form of wildlife that I had come across many times before during my time here in Gothic, I certainly never expected him to point at an albino marmot, sitting on its back legs, staring at us. I quickly grabbed my camera to capture the moment, and I’m sure most people would agree that this curious animal amidst the wildflowers of Colorado offers a beautiful sight (see picture below). The marmot was spotted and photographed last year as well, however it remains a rare sighting, and of course albino marmots are a rare occurrence in nature in general. I am thrilled that this year, I was lucky enough to see this wondrous creature (we called him Alberto, though I’m not sure whether or not it is a male animal), especially because this is my last field season in the Rockies. 

Marmot-y greetings to you all! 

Svenja